New Policies Introduced to Enhance Tourism in Denmark

The establishment of the five new visa centers represents the continuous effort of the Danish government to improving accessibility to visa application services for the increasing Chinese nationals who want to visit Denmark. From this development, the Chinese can apply for a Schengen visa for Denmark across nine cities in China. They include Shenyang, Jinan, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Nanjing. The new issuance procedures require applicants to avail themselves for the collection of biometric data personally. It is, therefore, necessary to have these physical centers in place so as to reach individuals living in areas far away from Shanghai, Chongqing, Beijing, and Guangzhou. The Danish government hopes that the improved system will enhance frequent travel as fingerprint scans can be stored and re-used for future applications over a period of 5 years.

Moreover, there has been a tremendous increase in the outbound Chinese tourism as many Chinese citizens are becoming richer and willing to invest in leisure travel. The expenditure of Chinese tourists abroad has doubled between 2012 and 2015 from $102 billion to $215 billion. Averagely, the sum spent by every Chinese business traveler or tourist per day is one of the highest in the world thus making them attractive visitors for the host countries. Focused promotion efforts coupled with improved coverage of Denmark by the Chinese media has assisted in ensuring the significant growth in the number of tourists visiting Denmark from China. In the year 2015, 28000 Denmark tourist visas were issued by the Danish representations in China. This was a 20% increase compared to the previous year.

More Chinese tourists to Denmark

It is evident that there is a lot of potential in attracting more Chinese tourists to Denmark. The growing and dynamic market for Chinese tourism offers a brilliant opportunity for Denmark. Nonetheless, tapping into this potential will require a concerted effort from the government and the industry in increasing the number of Denmark tourist visas issued to China. During the recent visit to China by Troels Poulsen, the Danish Minister for Business and Growth, Tourism stood out as one of the key issues for his visit. The minister held a meeting with the China National Tourism Administration and discussed many issues touching on the collaborative efforts to promote tourism in both countries. A majority of the Chinese tourists spend only a night or two in Denmark when touring the Scandinavia region. Besides, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are also covered by the Denmark tourist visa.